"We are sending a very clear message: We will not tolerate anti-competitive policies and practices," Attorney General Anthony Holder said at a press conference where he announced that the Justice Department had filed an anti lawsuit against Amex. The government alleges that the credit card giant enforces policies that prevents retailers from giving customers discounts should they use rival credits that have lower processing fees.

Visa and Mastercard, the biggest rivals to American Express, had reached an agreement with federal officials surrounding similar concerns, thus avoiding their own lawsuit.

For its part, American Express is prepared to fight back and it's suggesting that the federal government's lawsuit is anti-free enterprise.

"In effect, the government is arguing that we cannot freely negotiate with our merchants about how they treat our card members at the point of sale," Amex general counsel Louise Parent said in a statement.

But some merchant groups applauded the government. "Merchants, small and large, welcome today's news," said John Emling, senior vice president of government affairs for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, according to the Washington Post. "The fact is credit and debit networks operate within a broken market where a few dominant firms set fees and dictate terms with impunity."

Retailers routinely grumble about the amount of money they lose when customers use credit cards—about 2 percent of the purchase price. As part of the recently enacted financial overhaul law passed by Congress, retailers can offer discounts to people paying with cash or a debit card. Because of the agreement with Visa and Mastercard, retailers that accept only those cards can begin to give the discount. But if they also accept American Express, those discounts will have to wait until the lawsuit is settled.

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